


Promenade

by bennysparks



Category: EastEnders (TV)
Genre: Callum is not a graceful animal, M/M, Meet the father (sort of)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-14
Updated: 2019-09-14
Packaged: 2020-10-18 18:08:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,875
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20643452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bennysparks/pseuds/bennysparks
Summary: Callum checks in on Ben after he gets out of the hospital.





	1. Chapter 1

Callum is hovering on the front stoop of the Mitchell house when the door wrenches open and he ends up with Phil Mitchell glaring at him from the other side. "Halfway," Phil says. "What the hell are you lurking out here for?"

"Oh. Phil. Awright?"

"I assume you're looking for Ben."

"Uh—yeah. Yes. I haven't had a chance—I mean, after he got out of hospital—" Callum is talking but Phil has already stalked off into the house, door left wide open. Callum steps gingerly over the threshold. He wasn't sure what Phil was going to be like after Callum turned up at the hospital, after Phil called him _ family _, but apparently it isn't going to be that different than before—Phil only half-paying attention, impatient whenever Callum opens his mouth. The old man reminds Callum so much of his father that being blanked by him is probably the best case scenario, anyway.

"Ben," Phil shouts up the stairs. "Halfway's here to see you." He shoves his hands into his pockets and turns to peer at Callum again. Feels like being under a microscope. "Doctors want him resting, yeah? But you know what he's like."

Ben appears at the top of the stairs. He grips the railing with one hand and his bandaged side with the other as he shuffles down. "You _ can _ call him Callum, Dad. You did say he was family." When he reaches the bottom of the stairs, Ben makes a point of leaning forward while Callum bends down and maneuvers around the narrow space, not quite sure if the point is a kiss on the mouth or the cheek, but either way Phil Mitchell is _ right there _ and Callum is shitting bricks until Ben grasps him by the ears and directs him.

"Hey," Callum says. "Do you mind?"

If Phil reacts to the kiss, to the situation, he is entirely stone-faced about it. Callum knows enough to know that some of the things Ben does are about drawing a line in the sand. "Just keep an eye on him, Halfway. Make sure he don't overexert himself.

Ben looks like a kid at Christmas, being handed that line. "But the Greco-Roman wrestling!" Only Phil is already in the kitchen, far enough away to be clear he has had enough of Ben's mouth.

"Ben," Callum says. If Jonno had seen that kiss, he probably would have put Ben's head through the wall, and then Callum—"You, you don't _ need _to wind him up, he was fine—"

"I reckon he likes you," Ben says. "He used to call Paul my _ flouncy boyfriend. _At least he's talking directly to you."

Callum tries not to get too caught up in the implication that even Phil has decided that Callum and Ben are going to be a thing. 

Ben snakes an arm around Callum'd back before wincing again. 

"You okay?"

"Just a twinge. Bound to happen. I _ did _ get shot." Ben smirks and Callum wants to remind him not to joke about that, only Ben is already barreling ahead as always. "You up to being seen in public with me?"

"What? I thought we'd just watch some telly or—"

"I'm not expecting a blowjob in the park at midday, Callum. But I got to get some air, okay? I swear Sharon wants to smother me and if my dad asks me how I am one more time—like he's ever cared—" Ben takes a breath and winces again. "Is that okay? You being seen with me?"

"Of—of course—" Callum scrapes a finger under the collar of his shirt and avoids looking at Ben. Because he knows Ben is really asking because this will be the first time the two of them are outside together since Ben got shot and Callum ended up cradling him in front of basically everyone. "I mean, you just kissed me in front of your dad…"

"Yeah, but I _ was _ winding him up."

"Ben!"

"And I quite like kissing ya. Obviously." Ben grunts and unwinds himself from Callum. He shuffles over to the stairs and groans his way down to sitting three steps up. "Awright, Callum. First thing you can do is help me get my shoes on."

Callum hunts through the hall closet and pulls out a pair of black and white trainers he recognizes as Ben's, setting them in front of him and kneeling down. "Come on, Cinderella. Let's get you to the ball."

Ben barks a surprised laugh. "Cheeky git, I'm supposed to be the funny one."

"Well _ maybe _ this is your chance to be the sincere one."

"That'll be the day."

While Callum is helping with his shoes, Phil reappears with a steaming brew. He watches for a moment before saying, "Taking him out, Halfway?"

"Uh—"

"Callum's idea of a hot date is apparently a quick promenade of the Square so that I might wave to my many adoring fans."

"Just take it easy—call if—"

"The concern! Honestly, I should have been shot ages ago. So rejuvenating."

"Ben!" Callum stands up and holds his hands out so that he can help pull Ben up. "He just needs some air," he says to Phil. "I'll just get him out of your...hair...for a bit."

"Oh my god," Ben says. "You're like the gift that keeps on giving."

Phil is impassive. Callum giggles without meaning to, shuffling around to get the door back open before stumbling outside, nearly tripping on the stoop.

"Don't worry," Ben tells his father as he follows Callum outside. "I'll keep an eye on him too."


	2. Chapter 2

They make it out the front gate and onto the street—out in front of everyone—before Callum has his first panic attack. He doesn't mean to do it, but he pulls his hand away from the small of Ben's back, puts a few inches between them. He does it without thinking, but Ben winces when he does and Callum frowns. "Sorry," he says. "It's just—everybody's been staring at me all week, making snide comments—"

"It's fine," Ben says, but Callum knows it  _ isn't _ fine. "I'm sure my reputation as an  _ effervescent local character _ hasn't helped your case."

"I'm sorry if—if I dropped you in it—" Callum stares down at his feet. Ben wouldn't have been in the pub, wouldn't have been shot, if not for Callum.

"Look." Ben reaches out and takes Callum's hand; Callum watches him do it but somehow manages not to pull away, not to blush, not to look embarrassed. "Nobody—not you, not me, not Whitney—was getting out of that situation unscathed, okay? I have put enough people through enough drama to know how these things work."

"Okay," Callum says, but he doesn't really believe it. He looks up, finally, peering around them. He can see people looking over from the market, Whitney's friends. "Where—where did you want to go?"  _ Not over there, not over there, not over there _ .

Ben twists and turns, wincing and pulling several faces. "Scene of the crime?"

It takes Callum a second. "You want to go to the Vic?"

"Sure, why not?"

"Well, you're not supposed to drink, for one thing."

"Yes,  _ Mother, _ but I can watch  _ you _ have one, right? C'mon, you need a whiskey to calm your nerves." And then Ben is shuffling in the direction of the pub, pulling Callum with him by the hand. 

The first person they see at the Vic is Bianca, seated next to Sonia just inside the door. "Okay," Ben says. "That thing I said about the scariest bit being over? I may have oversold that."

"Oh, look at these two," Bianca says. "Come to rub it in everybody's faces, eh?"

Callum pulls his hand away from Ben. He knows that Ben wants to hold on, wants to make a statement, but that isn't how Callum works. "Bianca," he says. "I'm sorry—Whitney knows I'm sorry—"

"You're  _ sorry, _ are you?"

"Bianca," Sonia says, placing a hand on her arm from across the table. She looks embarrassed; the last time he saw her, she was puncturing Ben's chest to stop him from dying from a collapsed lung. Right here. Right over there— 

"Awright, Halfway?" Mick is hovering at the end of the bar, clearly ready to step in if things escalate.

Callum is about to say something—he doesn't know what, exactly—but Ben clears his throat and says, "One whiskey for my—for Callum, please."

Mick's eyebrows go up, but he nods and produces a glass from behind the bar, reaching up for the whiskey. Callum can't stop looking back at Sonia.

Bianca is grinding her teeth. "Whatcha looking at, big ears?"

"Sonia, I didn't get the chance—"

"Cal," Ben says, quietly. "Maybe when Bianca isn't around." It's not clear if he's being sensitive, or if he's in pain. He hobbles over to one one of the other tables and and winces as he sits down, leaning against the back of the booth. Callum needs to remember that Ben is injured, that this is him  _ getting some air _ . "Text Jay for us," he says, when Callum finally sits down with a glass of whiskey from MIck. Callum is trying not to look over at Bianca, at Sonia, especially when he knows Bianca is glaring at him almost continuously. "I'm sure he can knock off work a few minutes early and have a drink with, well, you."

"We could just go over there."

"I am  _ not _ going to an undertaker's in my condition, Callum Highway."

Callum glances toward Bianca. Ben is always about drawing a line in the sand. "Fine," Callum says. He manages a smile. "I'll text Jay for you." He makes a show out of pulling out his phone. He fires off a text:  _ At pub with Ben. Wants you over here. _ He takes a sip of whiskey. They can stay for one with Jay; after that he needs to take Ben home.

"Thank you, dear."

Callum rolls his eyes but he knows that he's blushing. "Jay told me the other day that this wasn't a surprise for him."

"This?"

"You and me."

"Why,  _ whatever _ are you talking about?"

"Ben!"

His phone buzzes on the table:  _ ugh fine _

Bianca is definitely looking over now, as are several punters. It feels like it's easier to withstand, though, having Ben sitting across from him. Like he can borrow just a tiny bit of Ben's bravado and wear it around himself like a force field. "Our Jay is old hat at all of this. I'm surprised he didn't pick up on you before I did. His gaydar is quite refined, by this point."

"I keep freaking out that I'm, I'm being obvious, that people can just tell."

"Well, you  _ are _ holding my hand."

Callum looks down. At some point, he reached out and took Ben's hand without even noticing. "Oh," he says.

Ben shrugs, wincing again. "I practically stuck my tongue down your throat in front of my old man, remember?"

"I still can't believe you did that."

"He's being so—not  _ nice, _ not really, Phil Mitchell is never nice but  _ something's _ changed." Ben shifts and twists in his seat, running a hand over his wound. Callum must make a face because then Ben is saying, "Don't fuss, okay? I need a bit of time out of the house for my sanity's sake. And I needed to see you."

Callum can feel himself going red. "Even after everything—?"

"Yes. Obviously. I wouldn't be putting up with  _ Bianca _ if I didn't want to spend time with you."


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jay joins Ben and Callum at the Vic.

Jay Brown hovers over Ben and Callum's table, holding a pair of pints. "Do I want to ask what you said to make Bianca's face look like that, or do I not want to know?"

Ben is leaning against the back of the booth; he's looking pale and clammy again. "We didn't say nothing," he says, but is clearly too exhausted to infuse his words with his trademark snark. "Just minding our own business, wasn't we, Cal? And all of a sudden Bianca's kicking off—"

"Ben," Callum says, keeping his voice down. He is still holding Ben's hand; he has the impulse to pull away now that Jay is here—Jay can clearly see them holding hands, in front of everybody—but he doesn't want to let go, in case Ben passes out or something. "Maybe we should get you home, you look—"

"Fabulous," Ben says. "The word you're looking for is fabulous."

Callum tries to smile but he's not very good at lying. "Obviously."

"Oi, no lip from you."

Jay sets the pints down on the table and then settles into one of the chairs. "Don't feel bad, Halfway," he says. "Ben Mitchell is impossible at the best of times."

Callum snorts, lightly.

"Aw, I bet he can handle me," Ben says. It is a testament to how much pain he's in right now that he doesn't make it sound at all lascivious. "He's already got Phil on his side."

"What, really?"

"No," Callum says. "Not really—"

"Phil talks to him. Like, directly."

Jay scoffs. "Maybe he's one of them pod people."

"Thought he'd kick off worse than her majesty over there when I kissed him," Ben says. "But even that didn't set him off. We should ask him to officiate our wedding." And there is a moment where the comment, the word  _ wedding, _ hangs in the air and Callum must wince or freeze or  _ something _ because then Ben is saying, "Cal, shit, I'm sorry, you know what I mean—it was just a—"

"It's fine," Callum says. He looks across at Sonia and Bianca, and Bianca is watching him still but he isn't sure if she actually  _ heard _ that.

"I find this version of you who apologizes for talking bollocks medically fascinating," Jay says.

"I'm injured here, bruv!"

"And yet you've still dragged Callum out with Bianca right over there like there wasn't going to automatically be a problem,  _ bruv. _ Should have stayed in and gotten a Chinese or something. You're still healing, you should be curled up on the couch watching  _ Little Shop of Horrors _ for the six millionth time."

"Being in that house twenty-four-seven was doing my head in."

"Yes, fine, okay, but you didn't have to come here, did you?"

"I didn't—I wanted to make another good memory here, okay?"

That shuts Jay up.

They haven't  _ really _ talked about what happened, with Hunter shooting Ben, dragging Ben's sister out into the street. Callum squeezes Ben's hand. "It's okay," he says. "It's just the Vic, Ben. Plenty of happy memories here," he says, trying not to think about Whitney like she's a ghost, her after-image hovering over there, and there, and there— 

"Plenty of bad ones, too."

"Bruv, you look like you're going to fall over," Jay says. "We don't have to finish these beers."

"Fine," Ben says. "Callum, you may take me home and ravish me now."

And that was definitely loud enough that Bianca heard it. "Ben!"

"Word the wise, mate," Jay says to Callum, as they stand up and both reach out to help Ben up. "If you're serious about this one, you're going to have to build up your tolerance for his bullshit because he's a fucking artist."

"It's really hard to believe you're my oldest and closest friend."

"I like to think of myself as more like your conscience."

"Probably not your idea of a good first date," Ben says.

They're hovering in front of the back gate of the Mitchell house and this time Callum hasn't removed his hand, is careful not to veer away. He feels a little sick to his stomach with anxiety but he's probably just going to have to get used to it. "I dunno," Callum says. "You bought me a whiskey and we held hands."

"You could come inside. Shoot the breeze with Phil. Cuddle up with me an' a film…"

There is movement in the corner of Callum's eye. It's Whitney's sister, Tiffany, on the other side of the lane with her boyfriend Keegan. She definitely sees him, sees  _ them, _ and for a long second Callum almost pulls away. Instead he takes a breath. "Sorry you gotta be patient with me," he says, because he knows that Ben felt him tense up.

"Are you saying you don't want to adopt Lexi next week? How dare you lead me on."

"Ben."

Ben sighs, and it seems longer and more put-upon than usual, but that's probably the pain. "Callum," he says. He reaches up and rubs a thumb over Callum's cheek. "I been where you are, remember? You're doing fine."

"I just don't want you to have to wait for me to figure shit out."

"You're worth waiting for," Ben says. "Come inside. Takeout and musicals is what we need. You and Sharon can compare notes on the horrible experience that is being with Mitchell men."

He pushes open the gate and then looks back. Callum could say no, could say that Ben needs to go inside and rest, have a proper rest. Only there's no reason that he has to rest all on his own, and Callum is tired too. Callum just wants to lie down. "Okay," he says. "But we're getting extra egg rolls."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thought I should finish this one up, even though I'm veering more in the direction of established relationship stuff because the show's putting the brakes on things, maybe a little too much so.


End file.
